Drop delivery chute

ABSTRACT

A drop delivery debris disposal chute formed of a continuous trough sectioned body having an open face, and a plurality of cover elements each secured to span the open face to constitute a respective part of a closure wall of the chute, wherein each of a plurality of duct access openings in the closure wall is constituted by a gap between neighboring spaced apart cover elements, and at least two inlet structures supporting the duct fixedly mounted to a building floor and including an intake opening and an inclined race extending from the intake opening to a corresponding duct access opening, and wherein the spacing between neighboring duct access openings is established to bring each access opening into register with the race of a corresponding inlet structure by use of a cover sheet in overlapping relationship with a cover element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to chutes for the drop delivery of material,articles or other items from the upper floors of a multi-storey buildingto a lower level. Such chutes (referred to as drop delivery chuteshereinafter) provide a quick and inexpensive means for delivering itemsto, for example, a ground floor or basement destination, when the itemsare either able to withstand the fall without damage or where damage isof no consequence.

The invention was developed for application to temporary drop deliverychutes as frequently used for the disposal of rubbish or debris from theabove ground floors of a multi-storey building during construction ofthe building, and is described herein primarily with reference to dropdelivery chutes for that usage. It will be appreciated however that itis applicable to drop delivery chutes generally, including permanentchutes such as those used, for example, for the delivery of soiled bedlinen or the like from hospital wards to a basement laundry orcollection facility.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The big majority of prior known drop delivery chutes for the disposal ofdebris during the construction of a multi-storey building have been oftwo types:

(i) Chutes comprising a plurality of truncated conical duct modulesstrung together to form an elongated downwardly extending duct whereineach module feeds into the one below. Usually the modules are onlyloosely linked together and require special arrangements for theiroverall support. Debris and like materials may be fed into the open topof the duct, but such chutes usually do not allow for the in-feed ofmaterial at points along the length of the duct. They are thereforeexpensive, time consuming to erect, limited as to the number of floorsthat may be serviced simultaneously and, because of their discontinuousnature they may release a good deal of dust into the atmosphere when inuse.

(ii) Chutes comprising a downwardly extending, fabricated metal duct anda plurality of inlet structures permitting material to be delivered intothe duct at each floor serviced by the chute. Such multiple inlet chutesare usually secured by tie-beams or the like to the building structure,although it has been proposed hitherto to anchor the inlet structures tothe respective floors for the support of the chute as a whole. The ductmay be continuous, that is to say devoid of loose or ill fitting joints,and therefore may be substantially dust tight, but chutes of this kindand their supporting structures have usually been tailor made for eachsite, which is an expensive, and in the case of temporary rubbishdisposal chutes, a particularly wasteful procedure.

Attempts have been made to provide multiple inlet, debris disposalchutes with continuous ducts utilising re-useable duct modules. Thosemodules have been in the form of open-topped and open-bottomedfabricated metal boxes, of which some are furnished with an inletopening. In use they are fastened together, one upon another, to form acontinuous duct. However, the floor spacing in multi-storey buildingsvaries from site to site, and this has meant that either a tailor made,non-standard "module" has been required between each floor or that eachregular inlet module has not been able to be optimally placed relativeto each floor for ease and convenience of use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a drop delivery chutehaving multiple inlets and a substantially continuous, preferablyre-useable, duct which may be more readily adjusted insofar as thevertical spacing between adjacent duct access openings is concerned thanhas been the case in the ducts of prior known chutes of that type.

According to a first aspect the invention consists in a drop deliverychute comprising a continuous duct which itself comprises a troughsectioned body having an open face, and a plurality of cover elementsadapted to span the open face to constitute a closure wall of the duct;and means to secure the cover elements to the body, which means permitthe respective cover elements to be secured at any position along thelength of the body as needed to form the closure wall; wherein each of aplurality of duct access openings in the closure wall is constituted bya gap between neighbouring spaced apart cover elements.

In preferred embodiments the duct is modular and the body comprises aplurality of open ended, trough sectioned body modules adapted to bejoined end to end and upended to form a continuous, upright body.

Preferred embodiments of the invention further comprise a plurality ofat least two inlet structures supporting said duct, each inlet structurebeing adapted to be fixedly mounted to a building floor and comprisingmeans defining an intake opening and an inclined race extending fromsaid intake opening to a corresponding duct access opening.

In such preferred embodiments, wherein there are a plurality of inletstructures disposed one above the other in respective association with aplurality of floors of a multi-storey building, variations in thespacing between neighbouring duct access openings, as may be needed tobring each access opening into register with the race of a correspondinginlet structure, may be accommodated by providing a non-modular cover ofappropriate width intermediate of each pair of neighbouring accessopenings; but, more simply, and preferably, a fill-in cover panel isprovided, which may or may not be identical with the first mentionedcover elements, and is adapted to overlap its adjacent cover module to agreater or lesser extent as needed to adjust the total cover lengthbetween duct access openings.

In still further preferred embodiments the inlet structure isconstructed so that its inclined race feeds into a duct access openingsituated in the closure wall that is a side wall of the duct, that is tosay a wall that is generally perpendicular to the edges of the floors onwhich the inlet modules are mounted.

For preference the duct is merely clamped to the inlet structures tofacilitate erection of the chute, and enable the position of the openbottom end of the duct to be set as needed irrespective of the altitudeof the lowermost inlet structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a portion of a dropdelivery chute according to the invention, namely an inlet structure andportion of a vertical duct.

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of the same subject matter with themodular components thereof shown separated.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a larger portion of the chuteof FIG. 1, showing two inlet structures and with some of the modularcomponents of the duct separated.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a portion of an alternativedrop delivery chute according to the invention, namely an inletstructure and portion of a vertical duct.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a larger portion of the chuteof FIG. 4, showing two inlet structures.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the subject matter of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic rear elevation of the subject matter of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the subject matter of FIG. 7.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

The drop delivery chute illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 3 is a temporaryrubbish disposal chute for use during the construction of a multi-storeybuilding. It comprises a vertical duct 11 and a plurality of inletstructures 12. There is an inlet structure 12 at each of the aboveground floors 13 of a multi-storey building under construction that isto be serviced by the chute.

Each inlet structure 12 is a steel fabrication comprising a skeletalframe with infill sheets welded or otherwise secured thereto to providea unitary structure comprising a rear wall panel 14, a floor panel 15and two forwardly diverging side wall panels 16.

Each inlet structure 12 is anchored to the corresponding floor 13, inthe present instance by, for example, anchor studs driven into the floorthrough clearance holes 17 in the floor panel 15 and projecting framemembers thereof.

The floor panel 15 defines an intake opening 18 and the inlet structure12 further comprises an inclined race comprising two triangular racewalls 19 and an inclined race floor 20. Thus it will be apparent thatdebris swept or tipped into the intake opening 18 will be fed by therace to the rear of, and then from, the inlet structure into the duct11, provided the duct has an access opening coinciding with the rearedges of the race walls 19 and race floor 20.

For safety's sake the inlet structure may further comprise barrier meansto prevent a person inadvertently falling into the intake opening 18.Those barrier means may comprise a hinged trap door or the like for theintake opening, but for preference are no more than a pair ofjudiciously spaced rails 21 fixedly spanning the intake opening 18 somedistance above it.

The duct 11 comprises a plurality of trough sectioned body element 22and a plurality of mutually similar cover element 23 and a cover plate24. The body modules are preferably provided with four sockets at oneend and four mating spigots 25 (see FIG. 2) at the other end, wherebythe body modules may be mutually engaged end to end and secured togetherby self-fixing pins 26 or other appropriate through fasteners, to form acontinuous, trough sectioned, duct body.

Each module 22 and element 23 is similar in construction to the inletstructure in that each comprises a fabricated frame and an infill panelor panels. In the case of the body modules 22, each comprises threerectangular walls, and, as the duct is oriented shown in the embodimentnow being described, these constitute the rear wall 27 and side walls 28of the assembled duct body. It will be apparent that other troughsectioned body modules could replace those illustrated herein. Inparticular, the entire module could be of semi-cylindrical shape or therear wall 27 could be curved in cross-section. Such shapes might well beadopted in the case of, for example, moulded plastics modules.

The closure wall of the assembled duct body, being its front wall, ismade up of the several cover elements 23, the cover plates 24 and therear wall panels 14 of the inlet structures 12.

For preference the cover elements 23 and the inlet structures 12 aresecured to the assembled body of the duct 11 by J-bolts 29 or otherpositionally adjustable clamping means.

This allows complete freedom in respect of the positioning of the inletstructures and the duct access openings to suit the floor spacing. Inthis regard it should be noted that a cover plate 24 may be providedimmediately above each inlet structure 12 (FIG. 2) or immediately belowsame (FIG. 3) and may then be positively bolted to the trough sectionedbody 22, because its effective length, when regarded as a part of thefront wall of the duct, is determined by the extent to which it isoverlapped by the contiguous cover element 23.

It should also be noted that no cover elements are required in registerwith the races, and indeed such elements are deliberately omitted toprovide correctly positioned duct access openings.

For preference a lid 40 is provided for the top end of the assembledduct 11.

It is apparent from FIG. 3 that the duct 11 is spaced outboard of theedges of the floors 13 by a distance equal to the horizontal extent ofthe inlet structure races. This is necessary, when a straight racecommunicating with an access opening in the front wall of the duct isused, if the intake opening 18 is to be at floor level (as is desirableif debris on the floor is to be pushed or swept directly into theopening, or if it is to be tipped into same from a wheelbarrow). Howeverthis outboard spacing of the duct increases the stresses imposed on theinlet structures and increases the difficulty of installing the chute.Those deficiencies are addressed by the embodiment of the inventionillustrated by FIGS. 4 to 8 without sacrificing the floor level positionof the intake opening.

The duct 11 of this second mentioned embodiment is the same as the duct11 of the first described embodiment and is not further described. It ishowever oriented differently with respect to the floors 13, in that theduct wall comprised of the cover modules is a side wall, whereas thebody modules constitute the front, rear and opposite side wall of theduct.

Inlet structures 30 are similar in construction and function to inletstructures 12, but differ therefrom in a number of respects. Inparticular, the structure's side walls 34 no longer diverge and theyextend beyond the edges of the floors 13, a rear wall 35 is added alongwith an internal guide wall 36, and the race, comprising triangular sidewalls 31 and an inclined floor 32, is positioned entirely outboard ofthe floor panel 37 and is oriented so as to feed into a duct accessopening in a side wall of the duct 11. As may best be seen from FIG. 5this enables the duct to be positioned closely adjacent or indeed incontact with the edges of the floors 13.

Furthermore the inlet structures 30 comprises screw adjustable or otherextendable members 38 whereby the inlet structures may be clamped inposition between two neighbouring floors 13. Such extendable members arewell known per se, being widely used as adjustable props in tubularsteel scaffolding supporting structures.

I claim:
 1. A drop delivery chute comprising a duct which itselfcomprises a continuous trough sectioned body having an open face, and aplurality of cover elements each adapted to span the open face toconstitute a respective part of a closure wall of the duct, and means tosecure the cover elements to the body, which means permit the respectivecover elements to be secured at any position along the length of thebody as needed to form the closure wall; wherein each of a plurality ofduct access openings in the closure wall is constituted by a gap betweenneighbouring spaced apart cover elements, and at least two inletstructures supporting the duct, each inlet structure being adapted to befixedly mounted to a building floor and comprising means defining anintake opening and an inclined race extending from the intake opening toa corresponding duct access opening and wherein the spacing betweenneighboring duct access openings is established so as to bring eachaccess opening into register with the race of a corresponding said inletstructure by means of a cover sheet in overlapping relationship with asaid cover element which permits stepless adjustment in the longitudinaldirection of the positioning of said duct access openings.
 2. A chuteaccording to claim 1 wherein the body comprises a plurality of openended, trough sectioned body modules joined end to end.
 3. A chuteaccording to claim 1 wherein said each inlet structure is so adapted bymeans of at least two extendable members whereby the inlet structuresmay be clamped in position between two neighbouring floors.
 4. A chuteaccording to claim 1 wherein the spacing between neighboring duct accessopenings is established so as to bring each access opening into registerwith the race of a corresponding said inlet structure by means of acover sheet of lesser width than a said cover element intermediate eachpair of neighbouring access openings.
 5. A chute according to claim 1wherein each said inlet structure is constructed so that its inclinedrace feeds into a duct access opening situated in a side wall of theduct, being the closure wall when extending away from an edge of thefloor on which said each inlet structure is mounted.
 6. A chuteaccording to any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the duct body is clampedto the inlet structures by clamping means permitting stepless adjustmentin the longitudinal direction of the duct of the position of the ductbody relative to the inlet